Burning Away Memories
by ImmortalWinchesters
Summary: Lex Luthor finds photos hidden away in his mansion and doesn't appreciate most of the memories they bring back. He doesn't hesitate to burn the photos. At least, not until he finds some of himself and a certain teenager by the name of Clark Kent.


**-BURNING AWAY MEMORIES-**

* * *

Lex Luthor spent the day spent rummaging around the mansion's drawers and cupboards inside the library. That day he realized there were a lot of random little things hidden around. Of course, they weren't hidden in any way that looked messy. The mansion only got very bad looking on very few occasions, like when Lex's father had planted bugs in the place and the young billionaire has turned the place upside down to find them.

Lex didn't understand why exactly, but he kept finding photos. He remembered when they were taken, but not when he put them in the drawers and cupboards of the mansion. It wasn't a ton of pictures either, just one or two in every other place he went to search through. Lex examined the photo in his hand of his father. _Why exactly did he have this?_ He ripped it in half and threw it in the library's fireplace.

Upon finding the first couple pictures, Lex decided he would put whatever photos he wanted to keep at the bottom of one of the drawers. So far there was none worth keeping. First, he didn't feel like he needed these photos of him by himself. Sure, a lot of them were him on important occasions, but he didn't really care. He burned them all. There were also a few photos of him when he was younger with curly, red hair. Lex sighed upon seeing those, remembering for the millionth time in his life when he lost his hair in the meteor shower. He decided to burn them. What was the point of keeping them? He didn't care if he never saw how he looked when he was little ever again.

Lex came upon a few photos of him with Helen Bryce and scowled. He would be deeply satisfied if he never saw or thought about his second wife ever again. Lex had honestly loved the woman and despite making some mistakes in their relationship, he had been convinced it would work between them. Obviously he was wrong to believe such a thing since Helen had gotten him stuck on an island for three terrible months. He threw the pictures in the fire and was almost satisfied watching them burn.

That's when Lex pushed away some files in another drawer and saw a few more photos. The difference between them and the others was these he remembered putting there. He had pretended he hadn't heard the voice in his head reminding him of them. Of course though, the young billionaire eventually gave in and went to get the photos. There were four of them. In these, Lex was not alone, but with a teenager. This particular teenage farm boy happened to become his best friend years ago. Clark Kent, the boy he once considered to be a brother was no longer his friend now.

Lex wished that him and Clark could find some common ground and not be rivals in a war. Of course Clark had given up on Lex and the boy was stubborn. The billionaire knew he wouldn't be able to change Clark's mind about being his friend again. As much as most of Lex's essence blamed Clark for their relationship malfunction, he knew it was his fault too. He had messed up several times, going too far to see if there was anything different about the boy. He was so sure there was he hadn't been thinking about the consequences, especially when he put Clark's family in danger. A very small part of Lex Luthor knew that he shouldn't be forgiven, and he wouldn't be.

He looked at the photos of him and Clark with the genuine smiles on their faces. They looked incredibly content to be in each other's company and it saddened the young Luthor. He remembered all the good times he had with the only friend he ever had and was likely ever going to have. There were very few moments in Lex Luthor's life that he generally enjoyed, but of those few the majority were spent with Clark Kent. Lex would like to have those photos as a memory of good times. However…

Why would he want to look back on himself feeling content with an old friend when he knew he would never be in a situation like that again? Of course that's what a lot of peoples' memories were but he didn't feel right keeping them. Lex had a problem with focusing too much on the past and keeping the pictures wouldn't help him solve that problem. In addition, he was actually still quite angry at the Kent boy. The anger wasn't up there with the sadness and the way he would try to forget about Clark all together, but it still lingered within him.

Lex threw two photos of himself and Clark into the fire and watched as they burned. The third, he held onto as he bent over and set the bottom on fire. He watched as him and his friend's faces burned. Lex threw the photo in the fire before the flames licked his fingers. The billionaire had the final photo halfway to the flames when he stopped. The side he wished wasn't inside him was acting up again. It was the side that wanted to hold onto his friendship with Clark. It was the side that was still friends with Clark, even if Clark wasn't friends with him. It had been there when he first saw the photos and was back before he finished burning them. It would be so easy just to erase the remnants of the friendship from the mansion, but…

Lex looked at the final photo again. This was the one they looked the most content in, both in the middle of laughing like they had just heard the funniest thing in the world. Lex hadn't laughed like that in a long time. He sighed and folded the photo in half. He didn't burn the photo, but instead put it back where it was.

It was the only photo Lex Luthor had decided to keep. It was the billionaire's favourite photo. And the picture would stay in that drawer, buried under Luthorcorp files like it was insignificant. It wasn't however, insignificant and it would not be forgotten under there.

The photo of Clark and Lex stayed hidden there until the mansion burned down and it was unintentionally turned into ashes…


End file.
